Shall We Dance?
by Schauspielerinnen
Summary: When Duel Academy decides to put up a performance at the end of the year, Alexis take no notice. Not until it's brought to her attention, at least. She never imagined that she'd ever want to work so hard for anything unrelated to duelling... Dreamshipping
1. Post Exam Activity

**A/N: An idea inspired by Feysera's Love Chronicle. I really loved the story. And yes, the main pairing will be dreamshipping, because that's the only one I'm interested in at the moment.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh GX, Love Chronicle or the story she adapted it from.**

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**Chapter 1: Post-Exam Activity**

"Hey Lexi! Wait up!"

Alexis slowed down and looked back to see Jasmine and Mindy running to catch up with her. Lessons had just ended, and she couldn't wait to start dueling, restructuring her deck… basically, everything she refrained from doing during the end-of-year examinations.

"What's up?" she asked as she looked from one excited face to another. Already, she suspected it had something to do with boys. Jasmine and Mindy always seemed to have so much more to talk about that topic than she would have thought possible.

"Dancing classes! Or acting lessons, it's sort of a package deal. It's a post-exam activity," blurted Mindy, here eyes shining. "Think about it. Who do you think will sign up?" Her eyes glazed over.

"Anyone but me," replied Alexis, pulling her back to earth. "I'm not interested. Why would Duel Academy organise this sort of hare-brained thing anyway?"

"The transfer students are leaving at the end of the year, remember? Chancellor Sheppard thought that we should give them a nice send-off. So he decided that the local students should put up a performance. Hence the classes," explained Jasmine.

"Are you sure you don't want to go? From what I heard in the hallways just now, it seems as though the whole population of Duel Academy is signing up!" Mindy's enthusiasm had dimmed somewhat now that Alexis was determined not to go. Still, it wasn't going to stop her. "Think about how you'll look on the dance floor!"

"I have. It makes me shudder," said Alexis, with a tinge of sarcasm.

Jasmine sighed in defeat. 'Are you really, really, absolutely sure you don't want to try it out?"

"Yes," replied Alexis. "I am."

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"Alexis?"

Alexis looked up at the sound of her name. she was seated on a bench outside of school, contemplating some new cards she had gotten in a booster pack. Looking in the direction the voice had came from, she suddenly found herself staring into a pair of blue-green eyes.

Jesse Andersen walked over and sat down beside her. "Are you going to sign up for the course in dancing?"

Alexis sighed. What was so great about this that everyone was making such a huge fuss? "No."

"Why now?"

She blinked in surprise. Why would he care about why she said no? "Well, I guess I'm just not interested in dancing."

"Isn't your deck centred around Cyber Girls?"

"Well, yes."

"Wouldn't you have to like dance in one way or another to make a deck like that? Isn't Cyber Tutu one of you favourite cards?"

"Yes, but…"

His blue-green eyes were penetrating as he said, "So you can't really say you don't like dance. That's a really useful card, by the way," he interrupted himself as he shifted his gaze from her face to the cards loosely held in her hand.

Alexis followed his glance to the card he was referring to. SHRINK, it was. She felt that it was an apt description for her. With just a few words, Jesse had managed to get past her now-pathetic-seeming defense and make her feel as though she'd shrunk. "I don't really know why I don't feel up for it," she lied. "I guess that while I appreciate dance, I don't feel like doing it. Get what I mean?"

"So why don't you try it out?" encouraged Jesse. He took the card from her hand, which was resting on her lap, and held it at her eye level. "Don't shrink away from a challenge," he laughed a little at his lame joke. "Besides, you might like it."

Alexis reached out and took the card back. "Are you going to try it out, then?" she asked as she tucked the card away into her deck, out of sight.

"Yes." He looked serious, not like him at all. "You?"

"Well… alright," she relented.

Jesse's eyes lit up instantly. Alexis found herself thinking that it looked amazing on him and it added to his general charm. "Awesome! I'll go add our names to the list now! See you later!"

As Jesse rushed off, Alexis found herself suddenly looking forward to the course rather than dreading it. His enthusiasm was infectious, and she blushed as she thought about the way he said "see you later". _Hold it_, she told herself. _At the rate you're going, it won't be long before you join Jasmine and Mindy_.

Dancing. Ever since she was five, she had avoided thinking about that particular avenue. She had never told anyone why, and had rebuffed suggestions for her to pick up the art. _'It would be good for a girl like you to learn, you know'_ was always met with _'No thank you'_. Now, the wall she put up between herself and the art had been broken… by someone she hadn't even known for long.

Her smile faded away as she thought about it. If he could persuade her to accept what she had one rejected, might he be able to persuade her to tell what she had once kept quiet?

_Jesse Andersen_, she pondered, once again pulling out the card called SHRINK. _I will not tell you everything, but I will dance with you._

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**A/N: ****I reckon that this is a bit emo, but when you're watching a video in class about painful practices, you'd be emo too. I thought it up after I looked up the original story to Feysera's Love Chronicle.**

**Anyway, review! Please!**


	2. The First Lesson

**A/N: Uh… yeah, hi, I'm back.**

**Disclaimer: Me no own. Thanks.**

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**Chapter 2 – The First Lesson**

"Lexi, I thought you weren't signing up?" Mindy peered at her closely, as though doubting her presence.

"Yeah, you told us you weren't!" Jasmine echoed, crossing her arms and looking ready to interrogate.

Alexis held up her hands to fend Mindy off. "I changed my mind, ok?"

Like them, most of the population of Duel Academy were in the gymnasium in their gym uniforms, chatting and laughing and basically killing time until the lesson started. Most students had signed up, and some teachers too. Alexis had walked by Miss Fontaine on her way in and from the looks of it, the lady was trying to convince someone else (whose physique seemed identical to Professor Satyr's) that everything was fine and he could stop hiding behind that textbook.

"That's great!" Mindy smiled happily and backed away… an inch, that is. Meanwhile Jasmine, the more observant of the two, fixed a contemplative look on their ringleader.

"So you changed your mind all of a sudden, huh?" she asked, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly.

Alexis started and her mind scrambled for an answer, but she was spared when her PDA started beeping. "Oh, excuse me," she immediately said as she walked a few steps away.

She'd received a message. _Will be late. Save me a seat, ok? –Jesse._

She wondered how he got her contact, but she supposed he had his ways. A far more pressing issue was how one message could put a wide, if somewhat loopy, smile on her face. Even though it was clearly a dance class and there would clearly be no seats, the idea that he thought to message her made her feel something that wasn't just honour.

Replacing the PDA back in its holder, she rejoined Jasmine and Mindy just as a tall, well-proportioned man (complete with shades, stopwatch and megaphone) entered the room and got up on the makeshift podium (shoving some students off it in the process). "Okay, guys, settle down! We're starting the lesson. For the next two hours I will be in charge of everything around here. Since a bunch of schoolchildren will probably not bother to remember my name once they get out of the doors, you may call me the Director–"

Unfortunately for everyone, the doors slid open once more, allowing a collective blob of something (three students, actually) to barrel in and wind up at the at the Director's feet. The Director fixed them with a look that you might give a friend that you didn't expect to see.

Or one that you might give the cockroaches hiding in your trash.

"Sorry we're late, sir," panted Syrus as he shoved both Jaden's and Jesse's heads down, a very wise move that kept them from saying anything stupid.

The Director's eyebrows rose. "I was just about to add that I'm not opposed to anyone calling me the _Dictator_, but since the three of you are late, you will address me by _Your Royal Highness_ for the rest of the lesson."

The room was filled with titters, and Alexis's palm promptly met her forehead. Right, those guys were her friends. Yes. She filed this under FACTS TO REMEMBER WHEN THEY ARE BEING DORKS some time ago. Recall that?

When she finally decided that her palm was done making friends with her forehead and removed it, the first thing her eyes fell on was Jesse making his way over to her. That was, away from his friends. Which was surprising enough to make her eyes widen at the sight. He gave her a small sheepish wave, and she bit the inside of her cheek to keep a loopy smile from spreading on her face.

"Hey," Jesse called out when he was a bit nearer. "Sorry about being late and stuff."

She was about to reply that it was perfectly alright (okay, not really 'perfectly alright' per se, but 'totally expected'), but her friends beat her to it.

"Why are you here?" Jasmine asked suspiciously, looking at the boy from head to toe with her arms still crossed.

"Yeah, why aren't you with your usual gang of friends?" Mindy asked.

A embarrassed grin made its way up his face as he replied. "I kind of asked Alexis to save me a seat since I was going to be late, so I thought I should at least come over for her trouble."

Well, that certainly put a rein on her imagination. Alexis gave her head a minute shake to clear it and was about to put an end to all questions (the sly look on Jasmine's face made her edgy) when she was interrupted a second time.

"Quiet over there!" the Director bellowed, pointing his megaphone in their direction. Alexis quickly shut her mouth and looked attentively at him. "If there's anything that irks me more than a tardy kid it's a tardy kid who has the guts to be flirting five minutes into the lesson!"

Every eye in the gym was on them (yes, even Professor Satyr poked his head out from behind the textbook to stare) and Alexis resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands again. _Relax, it's not that big a deal_, her rational mind coaxed, but her irrational mind screamed louder and was winning. This was reflected in her face, which was several shades brighter than it was before.

Not that she was alone. She derived minimal comfort from the fact that the colour of Jesse's face was on par with hers. Then even that was crushed as Mindy giggled and Jasmine turned to her with a look of smug enlightenment.

_Crap._

The Director glared at them for another moment, before turning his attention back to his audience at large. "As I was saying, this is just a beginners' class. There will be a grand total of two lessons for whoever wants to join, then we'll have auditions for the performance your principal wants to put up."

Murmurs swept their way across the gym, and one kid yelled, "But that's so soon!"

The Director snorted and continued bellowing into his megaphone. "Frankly I don't expect anything great from a bunch of inexperienced monkeys, but I'm getting paid to do this. Try your best."

Somehow without her noticing Jesse had sidled up to her, and he whispered conspiratorially, "Hey, 'monkeys'? Doesn't that make him the inglorious zookeeper then?"

Alexis nearly laughed out loud, but the memory of the Director's last rant was still fresh and she stifled it just in time. She didn't even know why she found it funny, but the North Academy boy had a way of making light of any situation. "Or maybe he's just the orang utan to us monkeys," she suggested. "You know, bigger… but not that much better."

She held her breath as his brow furrowed, trying to make sense of her words. She had no idea what possessed her to say that, it wasn't even that funny.

Then he grinned. "Good one."

She returned his grin with one slightly more conservative one of her own. She didn't even know why his approval mattered so much, but then again, it wasn't like she knew how he managed to convince her to come along to this circus of a post-exam activity.

"Now spread out, we'll be doing warm-ups," the Director yelled. "Make sure you have loads of space around you. If anyone smacks you in the face while swinging their arms around, I didn't see you sock them in the gut."

There were a few scattered laughs as the participants spread out to occupy the whole of the gymnasium, and even Alexis had to admit that the Director just brought himself up a few notches in her book. Between the energetic boy on her right and the promise of more fun to come, she found that she couldn't quite regret signing up for this class.

xxx

As it turned out, the class wasn't anything too taxing. The Director had rambled a bit about "noobs who think that people can learn anything overnight" and "not expecting kids to be any good at this" before teaching them to stretch and count beats. Near the end of the lesson he demonstrated some basic moves that he said would be required for the performance, and gave them free rein to try them out as they wished before putting them together in a coherent sequence that he had everyone follow as he blasted synthesized music.

Needless to say, given that a good half of Duel Academy spent their time duelling instead of exercising, the activity took down a good proportion of students. Alexis didn't fare that badly, but even she felt fatigued, and she predicted muscle aches for the next couple of the days.

She stood with Jesse outside the doors of the Academy building, watching the students trickle out as she sipped water and waited for everyone else to catch up. Jasmine and Mindy were probably still somewhere on the changing room floor since they had resolutely refused to move and "injure themselves even more". They did give her the green light to go ahead without them though. Or at least Jasmine did. In fact, she almost insisted that Alexis leave first.

"Uh, sorry for whacking you so many times back there," Jesse started, though he looked anything but contrite, what with the grin still wide on his face. It was muted though, and Alexis took it as his version of looking apologetic.

"It's fine, I probably whacked you more times anyway." She waved it off without a second thought. It was even probably true, and every time she overdid an action and hit him she had been appropriately embarrassed, though he just laughed it off.

Still, it was nowhere as embarrassing as that time when she was five…

"No way, you were pretty good," Jesse assured her, fixing his bright green eyes on her.

She felt her face warm at that statement, and she was profusely glad that the sun was well on its way down. At least in the gloom it wasn't as noticeable. "You were pretty good too," she told him.

She hadn't thought it was possible for his grin to grow wider, but it did. "Thanks, man. It was pretty fun."

Alexis replaced the cap on her bottle and lowered it. "It was," she agreed. More than she expected. "I wonder where the others are."

"Who knows?" Jesse peered into the main entrance once more. Obviously he didn't find anyone, because he shrugged and went back to leaning on the wall. "Hey, do you want to duel later?"

Much as she liked duelling, Alexis didn't think she had the energy for it at the moment. "Well… about that…"

"The _Dictator_ has you beat?" he teased.

She gave him a light smack on the shoulder in retaliation. "Not a chance. You're on." Maybe she didn't have the strength to duel competitively, but it was just a friendly game, right?

"Duelling? Who's duelling?"

Alexis started at the voice, but Jesse recognised it instantly. "Yo, Jaden, never thought you'd make it out."

"Man, am I beat." That was Syrus, trailing after Jaden and looking as though he had just lugged a bag full of bowling balls up a mountain. Alexis gave him a sympathetic look. The Director's insistence on running rounds for cool-down was probably nowhere near beneficial for him.

"Anyway, who's duelling?" The Slifer repeated. "I haven't gotten a duel the whole day thanks to this thing. Any more and I'm going to be suffering from withdrawal."

Alexis rolled her eyes in response. "Please, like this was a compulsory activity. You could have just skipped out on it."

"But almost everyone's in it, so I wouldn't have anybody to duel anyway," he complained, crossing his fingers behind his head and looking at the quickly darkening sky. "Jesse, you wanna duel?"

"You know I always do," Jesse shot back, then as though he suddenly remembered that he had a prior engagement, turned back to Alexis with a decidedly more serious look. "Oh, but…"

She flapped her hand at him dismissively. "It's fine, we can always have ours another time."

The serious look broke into his usual smiling expression, and Alexis couldn't help smiling back. "Thanks a bunch! We'll have that duel, I promise!"

"Of course. I wouldn't let you chicken out of it," she teased. He was surprised and speechless for a moment, but the laughter that followed was so genuine, it made her feel warm and proud inside.

"Right, right," he laughed.

The trio left, joking and laughing. Alexis watched until their silhouettes disappeared into the distance, though it she thought about it, her eyes might have been following just _one_ silhouette. Then she sighed and resigned herself to literally dragging Jasmine and Mindy back to the dorm.

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**A/N: Short/overdue update is short/overdue. Take your pick. I'm hoping to finish this quickly because I don't like the idea of hanging projects. I haven't watched the anime in years (a 15-year-old started this, a soon-to-be-19-year-old is writing this now), so I don't really remember much about the anime or characters. Add to that a impressive lack of knowledge about the theme of the story and you have one great reason for procrastination.**

**Hopefully I'll get this done in 5 chapters or so, since I don't really like romance. The romance I write is hollow and mechanical to begin with, so I'll just either just try to finish it or delete it (much simpler).**

**Feel free to leave complaints. I'll address them if there's anything to address.**


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